End cap for a cloth reel



Sept. 12, 1967 J- L. M KITTRICK ETAL END CAP FOR A CLOTH REEL Filed March 16, 19 66 I 2 4 5 8 I ab 2 .I 2 v 2 1 INVENTORS JAMES L. MCKITTRICK HERBERT H. PROVENCE ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,341,000 END CAP FOR A CLOTH REEL James L. McKittrick and Herbert H. Provence, Greenville, S.C., assignors to Acme Cloth Reel Company, Greenville, S.C., a corporation of South Carolina Filed Mar. 16, 1966, Ser. No. 534,824 4 Claims. (Cl. 206-50) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to an end cap or end covering for a reel or like article upon which fabric piece goods or similar material may be wound, and more particularly relates to a light weight, yet sturdy end cap wherein the end walls extend between opposed inner surfaces of the side walls providing the sole supporting member between said side walls.

It has been the conventional practice in the textile industry to manufacture cloth reels or boards by a number of difierent methods, by using various materials to provide a board or reel having a pair of opposed flat surfaces which may be joined together along their longitudinal edges and about which a length of cloth or fabric is wound. These reels or boards usually have a generally flat end surface upon which a label or other printed indicia may be displayed.

In the early years wooden reels or boards were manufactured and used. In more recent years paperboard and corrugated paperboard reels and boards have been manufactured and used in the textile industry. Although the cardboard and corrugated board reels and boards are certainly lighter than the wooden boards they have certain disadvantages. One of these principal disadvantages is lack of strength. The lack of apparent strength and rigidity in the paperboard and corrugated paperboard reels and boards was improved by reinforcing the transverse edges with a paper end cap.

The prior art paper or paperboard end caps were usually formed by folding the paper to provide single thickness ends and sides that were in certain cases glued together. However, it was found that the paper end caps were frequently crushed in use, particularly along the transverse edges of the reel and more particularly in the corners of the end cap. In certain prior art manufactures the paperboard, and corrugated board end caps have utilized a multiplicity of layers of paper to lend strength to the end caps for cloth reels or boards. These end caps are not only bulky and relatively inexpensive to manufacture but have proven ineifective in solving the problem of crushing of the corners due to excessive pressure and compressive stresses.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide an end cap for a cloth reel that is simple to assemble and mount on the reel while providing sufiicient strength and rigidity to strengthen the end of the reel as well as preserving the attractiveness of the printed indicia or label carried by the end cap.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an end cap for a cloth reel that is inexpensive and light in weight.

It is one object of this invention to provide an end cap that can support an attractive end display.

Another object of this invention is to provide an end cap for a cloth reel that can be manufactured with a minimum of labor and at a high rate of production.

It is likewise an object of this invention to provide an end cap for a cloth reel that is rigid and will reinforce a cloth reel along its transverse edges.

3,341,000 Patented Sept. 12, 1967 "ice Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objects will appear when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of an end cap blank that has been scored or scored and cut;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of the end cap blank shown in FIGURE 1 that has been partially erected;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged plan view, with parts broken away, of the erected and secured end cap looking at the inner surface of the front wall;

FIGURE 4 is an exploded perspective view of a preassembled cloth reel with parts broken away and with end caps that are in position to be mounted on the reel; and

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of the assembled cloth reel with end caps mounted and secured to the reel body.

With reference to the drawings, particularly FIGURE 1, the blank that has been cut to the shape illustrated and scored on one side as shown has a front wall 10 with integral end walls 11 and 12 defined by score lines 22 and 23, respectively, and a pair of side walls 13 and 14 defined by score lines 24 and 25, respectively.

The corner portions may be cut away prior to scoring the rectangular blank, the size of each removed corner portion being equal to the longitudinal dimension of the adjacent end wall 11 or 12 and the lateral or transverse dimension of the adjacent side wall 13 or 14. Alternatively the four corner sections described may be simultaneously cut from the rectangular blank as the blank is scored or scored and out along lines 22, 23, 24, and 25 in a single operation by suitable mechanical means. The lines 22, 23, 24 and 25 illustrated may be made by scoring on only one side of the blank or by cutting and scoring on both sides of the blank to weaken the blank and facilitate the folding and erection of the end cap.

In erecting the blank, as illustrated in FIGURE 2, the side walls 13 and 14 are bent along score lines 24 and 25 at generally right angles to the front wall 10 so as to be in spaced generally opposing parallel planes and form a generally U-shaped section with the front wall 10. The end walls 11 and 12 are bent along their score lines 22 and 23 so as to be positioned between the side Walls 13 and 14 with the longitudinal edges of the end walls 11, 12 abutting the inner surfaces of the side walls 13, 14 as indicated at 19 in FIGURE 3. So positioned, the end walls eifectively resist collapse of the end cap and help to secure the side walls in spaced apart parallel planes.

With the aforesaid walls folded into erected position as described to form an open-back, box-like structure, a length of an adhesively coated laminar member such as pressure sensitive gummed or adhesive tape 15 is pressed to the outer surfaces of end walls 11 and 12 and adjacent side walls 13 or 14. In this manner each of the end walls are firmly secured between the side walls of the end cap.

FIGURE 4 illustrates a cloth reel body with an upper panel 16 and a lower panel 16' strengthened and reinforced along their longitudinal edges 17 and 18 by intermediate elongated panels. The reel body includes transverse end edges 26 and 27 which, with the aforesaid panels, circumscribe a hollow core 20. The end caps of this invention are mounted on this or any other similar or equivalent cloth reel or board by merely sliding the end cap over the transverse edges 26 and 27 of the body of the reel.

FIGURE 5 illustrates the finished reel with the end caps in position and firmly secured to the reel by means tend about the end cap and over adjacent portions of panels 16 and 16' to adhesively secure the respective end caps to the reel body. The tapes or labels may be printed with suitable indicia before application because the labels are all that is visible after the reel is wound with cloth.

The board or reel illustrated in this invention may be wrapped with kraft paper before application of the labels 21 is desired, and the reel may be made of any suitable material such as paperboard, corrugated board, plastic, foamed plastic such as polystyrene, polyurethane or the like.

The end cap members are most practically made of paper, paperboard or plastic or of equivalent material.

The scoring and cutting of the end cap blank may be done mechanically in a one-step operation and may be combined with the printing of desired descriptive matter on the outer end of the cap. In an alternative process the end cap may be folded and formed around the body of the reel and a single strip of tape used to secure the end walls 11 and 12 between the side walls 13 and 14 as well as to the body of the cloth reel.

The laminar member that may be used in the practice of this invention is any gummed or adhesive tape that is commercially available and is capable of durably securing the end walls of the end cap between the side walls of the end cap. Tape applied in the manner shown in the drawing is easily and rapidly applied and pressed on by machine and provides rigidity at the corners so as to prevent collapsing and gives an unusual reinforcement at the corners of the end cap and provides for greater strength in the area where compressive stress is greatest.

In the drawing and disclosure there have been set forth preferred embodiments of the invention and although specific terms are employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for the purpose of limitations, the scope of the invention being defined in the claims.

We claim:

1. In a cloth reel having a longitudinal dimension and a transverse dimension, an end cap extending about each transverse end of the reel and comprising a front wall and a pair of articulated end walls integral therewith and interconnected thereto along the transverse edges of the front wall, a pair of side walls integral with the front wall and articulated thereto along the longitudinal edges of the front wall, said end walls extending in parallel relation to each other, the longitudinal end edges on each end wall of said end cap extending along opposed inner surfaces of the side walls in perpendicular relation thereto, providing the sole supporting member between said side walls, a first laminar means securing the end walls in supporting relation between the side walls, and a second laminar means surrounding at least the end portions and adjacent side portions of the end cap, said second laminar means being secured to the end caps and to the reel body.

2. The end cap of claim 1 wherein an individual laminar section is applied to adjacent end and side walls of the end cap to secure the end walls between the side walls.

3. The end cap according to claim 2 wherein said second laminar means securing the end caps to the reel body comprises transversely extending lengths of gummed material of sufficient dimensions to extend about the end cap and over adjacent portions of said cloth reel.

4. The cloth reel according to claim 1 wherein said reel comprises a reel body erected from a blank of reinforced foldable material and including a pair of spaced parallel body panels interconnected along respective longitudinal edges by a pair of juxtaposed mid-panels and by a pair of juxtaposed end panels disposed between said body panels and parallel thereto, said mid-panels and end panels each being of the same construction as said body panels and being transversely spaced from each other to define a hollow core between the body panels, and means for maintaining said panels in erected condition.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,601,835 10/1926 Smith 206 1,795,613 3/1931 Moehle 229-14 1,966,191 7/1934 StrOhofer 20650 2,797,854 7/1959 Myers et a1. 229-30 3,062,368 11/19 62 Dunn 206-50 THERON E. CONDON, Primary Examiner.

WILLIAM T. DIXSON, JR., Examiner.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3,341,000 September 12, 1967 James L. McKittrick et a1.

s in the above numbered pat- It is hereby certified that error appear d read as ent requiring correction and that the said Letters Patent shoul corrected below.

Column 1, Time 51, for "inexpensive" read expensive column 3, line 9, for "is" read if Signed and sealed this 15th day of October 1968.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD J. BRENNER Edward M. Fletcher, Jr.

Commissioner of Patents Attesting Officer 

1. IN A CLOTH REEL HAVING A LONGITUDINAL DIMENSION AND A TRANSVERSE DIMENSION, AN END CAP EXTENDING ABOUT EACH TRANSVERSE END OF THE REEL AND COMPRISING A FRONT WALL AND A PAIR OF ARTICULATED END WALS INTEGRAL THEREWITH AND INTERCONNECTED THERETO ALONG THE TRANSVERSE EDGES OF THE FRONT WALL, A PAIR OF SIDE WALLS INTEGRAL WITH THE FRONT WALL AND ARTICULATED THERETO ALONG THE LONGITUIDNAL EDGES OF THE FRONT WALL, SAID END WALLS EXTENDING IN PARALLEL RELATION TO EACH OTHER, THE LONGITUDINAL END EDGES ON EACH END WALL OF SAID END CAP EXTENDING ALONG OPPOSED INNER SURFACES OF THE SIDE WALLS IN PERPENDICULAR RELATION THERETO, PROVIDING THE SOLE SUPPORTING MEMBER BETWEEN SAID SIDE WALLS, A FIRST LAMINAR MEANS SECURING THE END WALLS IN SUPPORTING RELATION BETWEEN THE SIDE WALLS, AND A 